What I am looking to do is to remove the flaky portion of this underlying coat and apply a smooth new coat and then a fast paint.

Since the boat originally had VC17 when I bought it I am guessing the underlying coat is something like Interprotect. It is a tan colour.

If I could sand it down thin enough to fair any rough edges then I would be happy to apply another barrier or leveling coat to achieve the smooth surface. This would then allow me to apply a thin fast paint in the spring. (the levelling/barrier coat would also be applied in Spring).

I have been using Komposite KL-990 for past 4 seasons. It is an ablative that overcoats old paint and comes off easily. Each season I pressure wash (a lot) to remove current year coating and any flaking old paint/coating. Two seasons ago I also sanded (a lot) the old coating smooth after pressure washing so there is not a lot of it left.

Our water is warm in summer (65 - 73 deg) and relatively clean. We get some slime but the boats generally come out very clean with no grass.

This next year I am hoping to go with something faster such as VC Offshore since it is a saltwater environment. Wish to have the hull and keel prepped properly for 2005 season. I want nothing below the waterline to be less than it should be for a race prepared boat.

Big problem is that every year when applying the new paint the old coatings will flake off in some areas. Even after spraying/scraping and sanding.